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Since the revisionists seem to be cropping up with regards to ROTS recently, I was wondering how different our initial perception of ROTS would have been if instead of the amazing CGI effects we would have been greeted by 1977 effects and lightsabre battles.

Was it a good *story* or were our intitial 'OMG' reactions clouded by pretty CGI and cool battles?

Personally I thought the story behind ROTS was the strongest of the PT. I love Palpetine and thus his exposure in this film was a highlight for me. I have to be honest that although the CGI was very pretty, I was not overly impressed by how they were implimented in the big scenes. The space battle was not what I expected. The ground battles were a little confusing for someone such as myself who is not strong with which vehicles/troops belong to which side. But they were still fun to watch. So I guess that regardless of the CGI, I still would have enjoyed the film, probably not with the same jaw'dropped expression though.

The CGI was the cream, it was a good solid movie before hand, but it wouldn't be Great without CGI to make it work, Mustafar for instance would never have worked without CGI.

Would ROTS even been possible to make with '77 technology with the same screenplay? The enourmous costs and not to forget the time it would've taken to composit all that stuff with optical printers etc...

Ace Pace wrote:The CGI was the cream, it was a good solid movie before hand, but it wouldn't be Great without CGI to make it work, Mustafar for instance would never have worked without CGI.

I thought Mustafar was mostly miniatures? CGI certainly made the whole scene easier I'm sure, but still...

As to the costs, the question is, is it cheaper to use CGI on those massive workstations and such or to get a crowd of extras together with rubber masks?

Kurgan wrote:

Ace Pace wrote:The CGI was the cream, it was a good solid movie before hand, but it wouldn't be Great without CGI to make it work, Mustafar for instance would never have worked without CGI.

I thought Mustafar was mostly miniatures? CGI certainly made the whole scene easier I'm sure, but still...

How would you do exploding volcanoes and lava flows like the ones seen with miniatures? (admittedly, the terrain seen before the final duel is largely miniature, but not much during the battle itself.

Kurgan wrote: As to the costs, the question is, is it cheaper to use CGI on those massive workstations and such or to get a crowd of extras together with rubber masks?

For closeups, extras (ref Podrace in Ep I); for distance shots, CG with miniatures. Check out the 'Making of Episode I' book for details.

Ther ANH saber battle would have been much better in my opinion.

With modern FX? Yes.

I would like ROTS the same if I had seen it with old time SE, but I have always been more of a 'story before effects and explosions' type of movie fan. For years I watched the OT with the old effects, and it never ruined the movie for me.

The quality of the saber battles I would think would have little to do with modern effects (other than a fight with a CG character like Yoda or Grevious obviously, but Grevious could be done with a guy in a suit). All those flips and somersaults, etc. don't really add anything IMO, and you could always do some of that with wire-work.

Compare the ANH saber battle to those in ESB or ROTJ, or any other movie done without CG.

Episode I's ruled because of Darth Maul alone. He had the most unique weapon seen (a double-bladed lightsaber), a distinctive style (I believe it was called a variant of Juyo, but freakin' jeeze it's obvious wushu) and raw physical ability. However, Darth Maul's lines were entirely dubbed from someone else, in the same way that David Prowse inhabited the suit but he is far more obscure than James Earl Jones' famous voice.

It'd be interesting to see a redo, but would it really have the dramatic heft of the original or that which Episode VI's Luke vs. Vader duel I'm told is known for?

DEATH wrote:Ther ANH saber battle would have been much better in my opinion.

Let's hear it for CGI Alec Guinness!

Mange the Swede wrote:Would ROTS even been possible to make with '77 technology with the same screenplay?

Frankly, no, not at all.

Just make it animated.

Well, that's cheating. You can do virtually anything in animation.